by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

 
1. Toscano Calif Shenandoah Valley Zinfandel (13.7%) '98: Med.light color; pleasant simple raspberry light Am.oak little Amador nose; tart bit thin simple buttery/Am.oak light raspberry/Zinfandel flavor; med.short light raspberry/Zinfandel some Am.oak finish w/ little tannins; pleasant Zinfandel but virtually no Amador character.
2. Ravenswood Amador Cnty Zinfandel (14.9%) '98: Med.color; deeper peppery ripe blackberry/Amador/briary nose; soft lush blackberry/briary/boysenberry spicy/peppery flavor; med.long briary/Amador/ blackberry finish w/ light tannins; nice Zinfandel w/ good Amador character; good value at $14.50
3. Stephen Ross Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Monte Rosso Vnyd (14.8%) '98: Med.color; fragrant very spicy/cherry/ raspberry/Zinfandel dusty/old vine rather pencilly/Fr.oak very perfumed complex nose; tart/lean/ elegant very spicy/bright/raspberry/Zinfandel peppery dusty/old vines rather pencilly/Fr.oak flavor; long very peppery/spicy bright/vibrant/zippy cranberry/raspberry/Zinfandel very spicy some pencilly/ Fr.oaked finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; a bright zippy elegant Zinfandel w/ lots of aromatics.
4. Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Zinfandel Ricci Vnyd '98: Med.color; deep dusty/earthy/old vines some blackberry bit toasty/oaked perfumed talc nose; tart spicy/dusty/old vines strong toasty/pencilly/ pungent/oaked rather lean some raspberry/blackberry flavor; long spicy pencilly/Fr.oak/toasty light raspberry finish w/ some tannins; needs several yrs; bit on the thin&lean side and lacks lushness.
5. Jory Winery Cienega Valley Calif Zinfandel De Rose Vnyd '98: Black color; very intense framboise/blackberry/ boysenberry/very jammy very dusty/old vine loads of fruit slight stemmy/leafy/herbal nose; soft/rich/lush/fat very intense jammy/blackberry/boysenberry/framboise essence-like flavor; very long/lingering very lush very jammy/blackberry/boysenberry finish w/ light tannins; a fat Zinfandel w/ loads of jammy/blackberry fruit; classic fruit bomb.
6. Rosenblum Cellars Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel Rock Pile Rd Vnyd (14.2%) '98: Very dark color; ripe lush blackberry very spicy/DCV light oaked nose; soft/lush spicy/DCV/blackberry perfumed flavor; med.long lush blackberry/spicy light oaked finish w/ light tannins; a classic straightforward Rosenblum Zinfandel; good Zinfandel for the price. $19.00
7. Rosenblum Cellars Russian River Valley Zinfandel Alegra Vnyd (14% PS, 8% Alicante; 14.8%) '98: Dark color; lovely very spicy dusty/old vines blackberry/boysenberry/licorice loads of fruit light oaked/ buttery nose; soft/rich very lush very spicy strong blackberry/boysenberry/licorice some dusty/ complex flavor; very long lush blackberry/boysenberry/licorice very spicy dusty some complex finish w/ some tannins; needs a yr or two; one of the best Alegrias I've had.
8. JC Cellars Russian River Valley Zinfandel Alegria Vnyd (15.3%; 85 cases) '98: Black color; beautiful/complex very spicy dusty/old vines Fr.oaked/vanilla/pencilly very fragrant blackberry/boysenberry nose; tart rich very spicy vanilla/Fr.oaked/toasty big/blackberry/boysenberry dusty complex flavor; very long tannic tart very strong blackberry/boysenberry very spicy complex vanilla/Fr.oak finish; needs 2-5 yrs; best Alegria Zinfandel yet; terrific Zinfandel.
9. JC Cellars Redwood Valley Zinfandel Rhodes Vnyd (14.5%; 110cs) '98: Med.dark color; fragrant near volatile cherry/black cherry/licorice peppery very spicy light toasty/oaked nose; tart beautiful very spicy/ peppery licorice black cherry/cola bit toasty/Fr.oaked flavor; very long somewhat lean/tannic tart very spicy/cracked peppery light toasty/pencilly/oaked finish w/ fair tannins; needs 2-5 yrs; a beautiful/spicy Zinfandel w/ great structure.
10. JC Cellars Redwood Valley Zinfandel Rhodes Vineyard (14.1%; 75 cs) '96: Dark color; bit herbal very roasted/charred/ toasty/oak very spicy blackberry/boysenberry complex almost Rhonish nose; tart very spicy roasted/ charred/oak vibrant cherry/black cherry/cola complex bit tannic flavor; very long some tannic charred/toasty/espresso strong blackberry/black cherry/cola bit minty/menthol finish w/ some tannins; still needs a few yrs; more char & new oak than the '98 but still in balance. Beautiful Zinfandel.
11. JC Cellars Napa Valley Zinfandel Bolduc Vnyd (14.1%; 75 cs) '98: Black color; very strong pungent/toasty/oaked/ menthol very spicy/peppery/blackberry/licorice/coffee slight volatile lift nose; tart hard/tannic peppery/blackberry/boysenberry toasty/menthol/oaked rich/mouthfilling flavor; very long tannic rather toasty/menthol/smokey/charred/oaked ripe/intense/blackberry/boysenberry/licorice/cola finish w/ ample tannins; this is big serious Zinfandel; one of the best of the '98's.
12. Rombauer El Dorado Zinfandel (16.2%) '98: Very dark color; beautiful/lush very floral/aromatic cranberry/ blackberry bright/forward/fruity nose; beautiful/lush/rich very bright/spicy cranberry/raspberry forward flavor; long very ripe raspberry/cranberry bright/vibrant loads of fruit finish w/ light tannins; very atypical of ElDorado Zinfandel in that it doesn't show that earthy/dusty/mushroomy character and much more bright fruit than most; carries the alcohol well (now) and no raisened or pruney character. Terrific ready-to-drink Zinfandel for the price.
13. JC Cellars Sonoma Valley Zinfandel Late Harvest Dutton Ranch (14.7%; RS: 6.0%; 25 cs) '98: Med.dark color; very intense boysenberry/framboise/blackberry/liquer very grapey bit overripe nose; sweet very intense very grapey/blackberry/boysenberry/framboise loads of fruit flavor; very long lingering intense blackberry/boysenberry/framboise/chocolaty finish w/ some tannins; loaded w/ intense boysenberry fruit; much like Ridge Essences; killer sweet Zinfandel.

1. More effluvia from the bloody pulpit:

   1. Villa Toscano: This was my first taste of the Villa Toscano wines. I stopped at their tasting room a month ago. Beautiful facility. Gordon Binz, formerly of RidgeVnyds and then of Renwood is the winemaker. The wines are on the lean & hard side w/ not a lot of lush fruit and certainly not the ripeness one normally expects of Amador. They remind me a lot of the leaner "food" Zins that Scott Harvey used to make in the mid-late '80's at Santino, afore it was Renwood. Those wines were not a commercial sucess. These Villa Toscanos will not be either unless Gordon starts getting more ripeness and lushness into them. That may come w/ more maturity on the vnyds. The tannins are certainly there, and they MAY age into something interesting; but it's a gamble.
   2. Stephen Ross Zinfandel: Steve Dooley used to work at Louis Martini Wnry, hence his access & interest in MonteRosso grapes, even though he makes his wine way down in SanLuisObispo (at TalleyVnyds wnry). His first one ('97) was pretty lean & austere, tasted like a Zinfandel made by a Pinot producer (which Stephen is a very good one). This '98 version is far better; lots of perfumed aromatics, one of the better MonteRosso Zins I've had.
   3. Rockpile Road: Last month when I was up in the DryCreekVlly, I took a drive for the first time beyond Ferrari-Carrano and up to the big resevoir. Beautiful country back up in there. Driving up above the dam takes you onto Rockpile Road way up into the mountains. A bunch of new vnyds are being planted up there and very spectacular sites. Althoughh it may be within the DryCreek Vlly VA, those vnyds up there are probably unlike any other in the DCV. I expect some great wines coming from up there.
   4. The '98 Zinfandel vintage: Some wine pundits have pretty much trash-talked the '98 Zinfandel vintage. Guess I don't agree with those comments. Most of the Zins I've found to be up-front easy-drinking forward Zins w/ plenty of fruit. What they do seem to lack is the backbone & the structure & the tannins for anything other than early drinking. Two exceptions seem to stand out in my mind: The Carlisle Cllrs '98's and these JC Cllrs '98's. Thay all have plenty of structure to take some modest aging. Kent Rosenblum has also seemed to do well with his '98's as well, better than Ridge or Ravenswood I would say.
   5. JC Cellars: These latest '98 of Jeff Cohen's are absolutely killer Zins. Althoughh he makes his wines at Rosenblum and is the winemaker for Rosenblum Cllrs and gets many of the same grapes that Kent Rosenblum does, they still are distinctively Jeff Cohen's wines. You can get many of the same characteristics in their equivalent wines; but Kent's shows more softness & more lushness & more roundness whereas Jeff's has less forward fruit and more structure and tannins and will probably be better wines down the road. What's most impressive is that they achieve this w/o often going over the 15% alcohol limit. But they're targeted for different markets. The Zinfandel world would be a lot more boring place without these two gents over in Alameda!!

   
   TomHill